Improvement in tassels



G. E. JENKINS.

y Tassels. N0, 140,372, Patentedlulyl`d873.-

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#ZWZ//w/v, 774/ l'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGEE.v JENKINS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO OGDEN, MILSTED 8U CO., OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN TASSELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 140,372, dated July 1, 1873; applicaion tiled May 14, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. JENKINS,-

of the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Tassels, of which the fbllowing is a specification:

My improvements relate to the tassels which consist of a series of wooden blocks turned ot' various forms, covered with silken or other fibrous threads, and secured together by means of a hollow tube, over which the turned and bored blocks are slipped, and then secured permanently together by means of a cord through the tube and in some instances the tube is dispensed with, and the cord alone used to secure the blocks together. In either of these two modes of securing the blocks'together there are objectionable features: First, in regard to the tube, it requires too large an opening through the crossing threads at the two ends of each block for the introduction of the tube, and its construction, being required to be of wood, is tedious, and adds to cost 5 and, moreover, the tube will not permit the neck-blocks of the series to be made of as slender or contracted diameters as the modern style requires; and, second, when the said tube is dispensed with to avoid the large bore in the blocks, and the cord alone relied upon to keep the blocks together, the stem of the finished tassel is necessarily iiexible, and the consequent friction of the covering-threads at the ends of the blocks very soon cuts them through, and thus ruins the tassel.

The object of my improvement is to remedy the said objections, and my invention consists -in dispensing with the tube and its central cord by constructing the series 'of blocks with a central bore in each, not of larger diameter than will readily admit of the slipping of the same over a slender stem of steel or iron wire, having an eye or loop at one end, andan adjustable removable wedge-key or screw-nut adapted to the other end, so that the block, when covered by threads or other fabric, in the usual manner, can be readily strung upon the metallic stem, and firmly compressed together at their ends, between the eye or loopend, and the key or screw-nut end of the metallic stem, when the said key or screw-nut Vbar F, with its cord-loop f and retaining-key fl; and also a wooden washer, g, between-the bottom block a and the key f. The bar F is intended to be made of steel wire, about onesixteenth of an inch in diameter, attened at one end, f, sufficiently to permit of the drilling of a eapaeious hole therein for the attachment of the usual suspension cords h. The lower end f may be screw-cut and a screwnut fitted thereto, or it may be liattened slightly, and a small hole drilled thereat to admit of the insertion of a cross-pin or wedgekey, so as to bind the covered blocks together when the said bar is passed through the small central holes in the blocks, and through the naked wooden washer y, substantially asindicated in Fig. l. The central hole in the upper block e is widened at its upper end, sufciently to admit the enlarged or widened upper or cord end of the bar F. The central holes through the blocks need be only slightly larger than the bar F to permit the blocks to be readily slipped along the same in applying them. Each block, excepting the washerblock g, is covered with silken threads, or other suitable fabric, by a winding-machine in the usual manner, before applying and se curing them upon the bar F, the suspending cords h being, of course, irst inserted in the hole at the upper end f', the last operation being the application of the fringe t', washer g, and key, to produce the finished tassel,

but a little larger in diameter than the diameter of the metallic bar, and consequently will allow the outside recesses in the neck-blocks l and b to be made much deeper, or the said neck-blocks of less diameter than heretofore, and the bar will cost less than the tube.

The invention is intended to be used in the construction of ornamental tassels of any size or quality that their respective uses may require, the size of the metallic bar F being adapted to suit the various sizes and intended uses of the tassels.

I do not intend to confine my invention to Jche form and number of the blocks, nor to the ornamental covering and fringe shown in the drawings, as the same must bevvaried to suit the change of styles. Neither do I desire to claim, broadly, the use of a metallic stem or bar Witnesses BENJ. MoRIsoN, WM. H. MoRIsoN. 

